It would only be right for me to dedicate my first post to the book that inspired me to start this blog- Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

For those of you that have already read the book, you’ll instantly know why… and for those of you that haven’t, let’s just say blogging plays a big role in the book.

I loved Americanah. It follows the lives of Nigerian students Ifemelu and Obinze who fall in love, end up apart as one moves to America and the other to England, and meet again, as adults- changed by their experiences abroad- back in Nigeria.

Americanah explores race, identity, self perception, politics, love… a whole host of themes that come together beautifully through vivid, descriptive language which, I believe, really draws you into the experiences of each character.

This book took me through emotions from “awww, that’s so sweet”, to “say what?!”, round to “wow!!” and back to laughing out loud on the train (if you’re anything like me, no shame). One thing’s for certain, it gets you thinking.

On a personal note, I found myself relating to and empathising with certain situations because of my own personal experiences, which took me even deeper into the book.

One of the things that’s really stuck with is that, for the first time, I found myself experiencing strong feelings of dislike for a main character. I’ve felt this before but never as strongly as with Americanah. What surprised me even more was the fact that this didn’t put me off reading the book further. I was more drawn to it- probably because I wanted to see if their experiences would change them.

Americanah’s a great book and it gets 9 out of 10 stars from me. I highly recommend it. If you haven’t read it already, add it to your list of books to read in the (very near) future. If you have let me know what you thought about it!

Happy reading xx